Speech Services

What speech, language and hearing services are available to students in the North Kitsap School District?
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The speech and language program provides
assistance to those students who have been identified as needing help in
the following areas of communication: Articulation, Expressive and Receptive Language, Voice or Speech Fluency.

Articulation (Speech Sounds)

What is an Articulation disorder?

Definition: An articulation disorder is defined as
a delay or deficit in a student's development of age-appropriate speech
sounds and word and syllable shapes in relation to their age and
overall development.

Difficulties with articulation show up in various ways:
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1. Some students exhibit difficulties forming and
using specific speech sounds. They may substitute one sound for another.
An example of this would be a student who pronounces "cat" as "tat",
substituting the "t" sound for the "k" at the beginning of the word.
This is called sound substitution.
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2. Some students may distort specific speech
sounds when they are speaking. An example of this would be a student who
pronounces the "sh" in "sheep" with air flowing out the sides of the
mouth instead of down the center. This results in a mushy sound that
results in "sheep" being difficult to understand. This is called sound distortion. A lisp is an example of a sound distortion.
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3. Some students have difficulty forming whole
words when speaking. They may leave off the end of a word, pronouncing
"cat" as "ca_" and "mask" as "ma_". They may leave off the beginning of a
word, pronouncing "cat" as "_at" and "star" as "_ar". This is called sound deletion. They
may also have difficulty combining consonant sounds together to form
blends, pronouncing "snow" as "so" or "no" and "mask" as "mas" or "mak".
This is called consonant sequence deletion or reduction.
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4. A student might also omit one or more syllables in words, pronouncing "banana" as "__nana". This is called syllable deletion.

What is Articulation Therapy?

Articulation therapy focuses on
helping students to develop more age-appropriate speech production. By
using specific exercises and activities, the Therapist leads each
student through a process of learning to produce specific speech sounds
or word shapes in isolation, then in words, phrases and sentences, oral
reading, story retelling and finally in conversation.

Language

What is Language?
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Language is defined as a "structured, symbolic system for
interpersonal communication composed of sounds arranged in ordered
sequence to form words, with rules for combining these words into
sequences or strings that express thoughts, intentions, experiences and
feelings." (Nicolosi, Harriman, and Krescheck, 1983)
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This system called language is composed of 6 elements, all of
which interact together to produce successful communication. These
elements are defined as:
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Phonology - the sound system of
language. This includes elements such as articulation, phonemic
awareness, sound symbol relationships and spelling.
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Semantics - the meanings of words and
their relationship to each other. This includes vocabulary, multiple
meanings, word relationships within sentences, cohesive devices and
figurative language.
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Syntax and Morphology - the putting
of words together into sentences and the use of word endings. This
includes the ability to form simple and complex sentences with
appropriate word order, use cohesive ties to combine ideas, use verb
tenses and prefixes and suffixes.
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Discourse Skills - conversational
skills. This includes such elements as basic conversation skills,
understanding instructional language and the ability to formulate and
retell experiences, events and stories.
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Pragmatics - the social uses of
language, the reasons for communicating. This includes elements such as
eye contact, body language, tone of voice, giving feedback, turn taking,
topic maintenance, making comments, clarifying messages.
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Metalinguistics - the awareness of
language as an object rather than as a means of communication. This
includes the ability to rhyme, take perspectives, self-monitor,
self-correct, segment and manipulate words and sentences.

What is a Language disorder?
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A language disorder is then defined as a delay or deficit in a
student's linguistic competence in relation to their social and
intellectual development.

1. Difficulties with Phonology can show up as delay or deficit in
age-appropriate articulation development, limited phonemic awareness,
difficulty with making sound symbol relationships and with spelling.

2. Difficulties with Semantics can show up as a limited range of
vocabulary understood and used, difficulty understanding that words can
have more than one meaning, difficulty understanding and using synonyms
and antonyms, difficulty understanding and using figurative language.

3. Difficulties with Morphology and Syntax can show up as a reduced understanding and use of word endings,
difficulty understanding and forming age-appropriate sentences and difficulty understanding and forming questions.

4. Difficulties with Discourse skills can show up as reduced
basic conversation skills, difficulty understanding instructional
language and difficulty formulating and retelling experiences, events
and stories.

5. Difficulties with Pragmatics can show up as an inability to
maintain appropriate eye contact, a mismatch between the message and
body language/tone of voice, difficulty giving feedback to listeners,
difficulty taking turns, difficulty maintaining topics and making
appropriate comments, difficulty asking for and giving clarification
when messages are not understood.

6. Difficulties with Metalinguistic skills can show up as a reduced
ability to rhyme, difficulty taking other perspectives, an inability to
self-monitor and self-correct their own communication skills and a
reduced ability to segment and manipulate words and sentences.

What is Language Therapy?

Language therapy focuses
on helping students to develop more age-appropriate and functional
communication skills. By using specific exercises and activities, the
Therapist leads each student through a process of learning to understand
and produce the specific vocabulary, sentence forms and conversational
skills in the context of the speech setting, gradually introducing those
learned skills into more natural conversational settings in the
classroom and school environment.

Speech Flency

What is a fluency disorder?

Definition: A fluency disorder is defined as a
communication difficulty characterized by involuntary disruptions or
blockings in the flow of speech, such as repetitions or prolongations of
sounds, syllables or words, and when accompanied by struggle or
avoidance behaviors. Difficulty with producing fluent speech is more
commonly known as stuttering.

Difficulties with fluency show up in various ways:

1. Some students repeat whole words, parts of
words or sounds while they are speaking. An example of whole word
repetition would be a student saying, "My my my my name is Chris." An
example of part word repetition would be a student saying, "I like
ba-ba-ba-bananas." An example of sound repetition would be a student
saying, "M-m-m-m-my name is Chris."

2. Some students appear to be stopped in the
middle of speaking, seemingly frozen in the middle of saying a word or
phrase. This can sometimes be accompanied by struggle behaviors as the
student tries to get out of the block. These struggles can range from
facial grimaces to extraneous arm or leg movements.

3. Some students with fluency difficulties avoid
many speaking situations such answering out loud in class, giving oral
reports and talking on the phone.

What is a fluency therapy?

Fluency
(stuttering) therapy focuses on helping students to develop more
functional speaking skills. By using specific exercises and activities,
the Therapist leads each student through a process of learning to
produce and use fluent speaking skills in the context of the speech
setting, gradually introducing those learned skills into more natural
conversational settings in the school.

Voice

What is a voice disorder?

Definition: A voice disorder exists
when the quality, pitch, loudness and flexibility differ significantly
from the voices of others of similar age, sex and cultural background.
Since an abnormal voice can signify illness, an examination and
diagnosis is needed by a physician in order for the student to receive
assistance in the school setting.

Difficulties with voice production can show up in a variety of ways:

1. Some students exhibit difficulties with vocal
quality, using voices that are harsh, breathy or hoarse in comparison
with others their age.

2. Some students exhibit difficulties with vocal
pitch, using voices that are inappropriately high or low in comparison
with others their age.

3. Some students exhibit difficulties with vocal
loudness, using voices that are inappropriately loud or weak in
comparison with others their age.

4. Some students exhibit difficulties with vocal
flexibility, using voice fluctuations while speaking that are
inappropriately flat or excessively large in comparison with others
their age.

What is voice therapy?

Voice therapy focuses on helping students to
develop a more appropriate speaking voice for their sex and age while
also reducing harmful vocal habits. By using specific exercises and
activities, the Therapist leads each student through a process of
learning to produce and use an appropriate speaking voice in the context
of the speech setting, gradually introducing those learned skills into
more natural conversational settings in the home and school.

Hearing Disorders

What is a hearing disorder?

Definition: A hearing disorder is defined as a
hearing loss due to physical or neurological damage to the students
auditory system.

Difficulties with hearing show up in various ways:

1. Some students exhibit difficulties with hearing all levels of sounds.

2. Some students exhibit difficulties with hearing a specific range of sounds, such as high frequency sounds.

Many students are prescribed hearing aids to help
them hear a greater amount of sound. Some students are given cochlear
implants to replace the damaged functions of the cochlear portion of the
inner ear.

What is hearing/auditory therapy?

Hearing therapy or Auditory training focuses on
helping students with hearing loss to utilize more effective the sounds
they are hearing. . By using specific exercises and activities, the
Therapist leads each student through a process of learning to be more
aware of a variety of sounds, discriminate between sounds, identify
sounds and finally comprehending what they are hearing.

Poulsbo Elementary

The North Kitsap School District does not discriminate in any programs or activities on the basis of sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, veteran or military status, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. Questions or complaints of alleged discrimination can be directed to the district’s Title IX/RCW 28A.640 Compliance Officer and ADA Coordinator and/or the 504 Coordinator: Address - 18360 Caldart Ave NE, Poulsbo WA 98370 and Phone - (360) 396-3001.